APS to boost its international engagement

The Committee on International Scientific Affairs (CISA) of the Physical Society (APS) is a standing committee created to encourage APS efforts to strengthen interaction among researchers and institutions in different regions of the world and to further extend worldwide access of physicists to scientific information and its exchange.

CISA has presently the following composition: Alan Hurd (Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA), as Chair of the Committee, Luisa Cifarelli (University of Bologna, Italy), Carlos De Brito Cruz (University of Campinas, Brazil), Sushanta Mitra (University of Alberta, Canada), Unil Perera (Georgia State University, USA), Mu Wang (Nanjing University, China), Hussein Zbib (Washington State University, USA). In addition the Chair, Chair-Elect and Past-Chair of the APS Forum on International Physics (FIP) are statutory CISA members, namely: Esen Alp (Argonne National Laboratory, USA), Edmond Berger (Argonne National Laboratory, USA), Sergio Ulloa (Ohio University, USA).

CISA meets twice per year, usually in Washington DC, under the vigorous and lively coordination of Amy Flatten, APS Director of International Affairs. The last CISA meeting took place on May 3 and focused on various aspects of the current initiative of the APS to expand its international engagement, from India, to Europe, Middle East, Brazil / South America, China / Asia. The goal would be to make the APS more and more required as a reliable partner in international collaboration.

Studentships and professorships exchanges were discussed, together with workshops and webinars activities, travel grants contributions, etc., under the motto of the most “budget-friendly” approach to cover as many as possible of the countless aspects of mutual collaboration and partnership.

Concerning Europe, and in particular joint activities with the European Physical Society (EPS), a nice collaboration in the outreach programmes of the two societies could be envisaged, in particular the possibility to establish joint APS-EPS Historic Sites on the occasion of the IYL2015 (International Year of Light and Light Based Technologies).

Other significant actions were also foreseen, especially the opportunity to issue common APS-EPS statements on matters of great relevance to both societies. This would be unprecedented and indeed very significant.